Hi, Friends!  How did last week’s drink water challenge for you (see–>Tips to Drink More Water)?  Mine went pretty well!  One day I forgot to track, most days I got between 55-70 ounces of water in per day.  Remembering that I had to record my water intake helped me focus on it more.  However, what helped me the most was making a little rule that I had to drink before I ate anything.   Here was my final:

• Sunday-70 ounces
• Monday- 56 ounces
• Tuesday-64 ounces
• Wednesday-56 ounces
• Thursday- forgot
• Friday- 60 ounces
• Saturday-80 ounces 

That’s one week down in our 52 Weeks to 52 healthy habits series! On to this week’s challenge which is all about breakfast, my favorite meal of the day!  It wasn’t always that way, though; I used to not really like breakfast food unless it was a Venti Starbucks Caramel Frap with extra caramel.  (I would totally consider trading a kidney to get my high school metabolism back.)  No surprise I used to fall asleep in Spanish every single day after my lunch of Doritos and soda ….. (*cringe*)

If you’re not really into to breakfast, I recommend checking out a post I wrote EONS ago but has some good info in it 5 Tips to Becoming a Breakfast Eater in 3 weeks. In fact, since I am pretty good at eating breakfast, reading that old post inspired me to make breakfast the biggest meal of my day.  So this week you can either work on just getting in breakfast or some aspect of breakfast you think you could be doing better on such as making it bigger or getting enough protein, etc

On The Go Breakfast Ideas

I also wrote this post –> 10 healthy and portable breakfast ideas, however, I wrote that back when I worked an office job. Since writing that post (read working at the gym where things were NON-STOP,)  my version of what is portable has drastically changed.    When I was there, I needed true “grab and go” options that could be eaten on the go…so I tried to keep healthy bread, muffins, bars, quinoa bakes, and cookies to pair with a quick protein option to keep me full all morning long.

Portable Protein Ideas

Protein is essential to breakfast; it helps keep you full and promotes stable blood sugar all morning, and potentially even the rest of the day.  Some of my favorite super quick options are:

1. Greek Yogurt
2. Cottage Cheese
3. Eggs (Hardboiled are the easiest to transport)
4. Protein Shake or Bar – See this post for how to make, make ahead protein shakes. 

There are many days I would pair one of those with a creation below for an -on-the-go breakfast.

Almond Flour Breads/Muffins (Low Carb & Gluten Free)

I like to use almond flour because they are gluten free for Mr. Hungry, but also because they are ground up almonds which is mostly healthy fat and protein.  Almond flour is more filling and promotes better energy throughout your morning than muffins made with refined flour or even whole wheat flour.  Some of my favorite recipes are below!

5.  Cranberry Pumpkin Chocolate Mini Loaves

A heart bread, bursting with hot cherries and rich chocolate flavor, it’s so good it is breakfast for dessert!

6.  Paleo Coconut Almond Banana Bread

7.  Paleo Cinnamon Raisin Bread

8) Healthy Flourless Pumpkin Bread

9.  Superseed Muffins

Thse muffins are made from healthy ingredients that are packed with healthy fats, especially omega 3’s!  They taste like morning glory muffins and are very portable!

Quinoa Bakes/Bars

Quinoa, is actually a seed that mimics the profile of a grain, however, it’s higher in protein than many other whole grains.  Bake up some quinoa bars which are easily portable (I like to wrap mine individually for easy transporting) and you can even make a double batch and freeze them for the week’s to come.

10.  Ultimate Superfood Breakfast Bars (GF, Vegan)

These quinoa bars are filled with healthy ingredients like chia seeds, hemp seeds, quinoa and almond butter.  They are great to pair with any protein source above!

 

11.  Banana Walnut Quinoa Bar

Also try:  Cranberry Date Quinoa Bars, Pumpkin Apple Quinoa Bars, Carrot Cake Quinoa Muffins 

Whole Wheat Muffins

These are great paired with a portable protein like a Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, or a protein shake.  

12.  Whole Wheat Blueberry Zucchini Muffins 

Hidden zucchini bursting with hot blueberries and hearty filling whole wheat flour, these squash any muffin craving (no pun intended)!

13.  Chocolate Chip Banana Oat Muffins

 

Protein Packed Oatmeal

14.  Make Your Own Instant Overnight Oats

15.  Overnight Oats

Also, see 20 New Ways to Eat Cottage Cheese for more healthy quick breakfast ideas!

 

52 HEALTHY HABITS IN 52 WEEKS SERIES:

The 52 Healthy Habits Series is about ditching the diet mindset and making small changes to improve health overall naturally leading to a healthy body composition, increased energy and improved health. Please follow along and check out the past weeks!

• Week 52: Healthy Habits Wrap Up
• Week 51: Nightly Reflection
• Week 50: Limit Harmful Chemicals
• Week 49: Find Your Tribe
• Week 48: Cultivating Positivity
• Week 47: Healthy Thanksgiving Tips
• Week 46: Check In
• Week 45: Mobility – Foam Rolling
• Week 44: HIIT Training
• Week 43: LISS or Steady State Cardio
• Week 42: Limit Alcohol
• Week 41: Eat White, Wait What?
• Week 40: Eat Blue & Purple
• Week 39: Eat Green
• Week 38: Eat Yellow/Orange
• Week 37: Eat Red
• Week 36: Learn Which Foods to Purchase Organic
• Week 35: Read the Ingredient List!
• Week 34: Focus.
• Week 33: Chew Your Food!
• Week 32: Meditation
• Week 31: Gratitude Journaling
• Week 30: Plan & Revamp Dessert- 20 Healthy Ideas
• Week 29: Two fistfuls of veggies per meal
• Week 28: Get In Veggies At Breakfast
• Week 27: Healthy Veggie Snacks
• Week 26: Nourishing Fats for the Gut (Healthy Digestion Part 4)
• Week 25: Keeping Regular – The Other Fiber (Healthy Digestion Part 3)
• Week 24: Feed The Probiotics With Prebiotic Fiber (Healthy Digestion Part 2)
• Week 23: Amazing Health Benefits of Probiotics (Healthy Digestion Part 1)
• Week 22: Check In
• Week 21: What You Will Learn From Recording Your Meals (Intuitive Eating Series Part 4)
• Week 20: Eat Until 80% Full (Hara Hachi Bu) (Intuitive Eating Series Part 3)
• Week 19: Limit Distractions While Eating (Intuitive Eating Series Part 2)
• Week 18: Gaging Your Hunger Cues (Intuitive Eating Series Part 1)
• Week 17: 10,000 Steps Per Day
• Week 16: Assess Your Caffeine Intake
• Week 15: Decrease Sugar Intake
• Week 14: Healthy Coffee Creamers (upgrade yours)
• Week 13: 3 Month Check In
• Week 12: Sleep Enough & Sleep Better
• Week 11: Schedule Your Workouts
• Week 10: Pack A Healthy Lunch (5 Ways to Create Endless Combinations)
• Week 9: Prioritizing Protein
• Week 8: How and What to Meal Prep
• Week 7: Create & Stick To Your Healthy Meal Plan
• Week 6: Get Enough Omega-3’s (Fight Inflammation)
• Week 5: What Is A Healthy Fat & How To Get Enough (Include Healthy Fats)
• Week 4: How to Spot A Healthy Carbohydrate (Upgrade Your Carbs)
• Week 3: Tips to Increase Veggie Intake (Eat Veggies)
• Week 2: 15 Healthy On the Go Breakfast Ideas (Eat BF Challenge)
• Week 1: Tips to Drink More Water

Last Week’s Meal Prep & Meal Plan 

Are you meal planning today?  I’m back on the meal prep train and it feels so good, it took about 1.5 hours but that’s totally worth it to only have one clean up!!  Last week I prepped:

• baked chicken (Mr. Hungry’s lunch)
• bacon
• roasted carrots (Lindsay’s recipe with honey instead of maple syrup)
• quinoa
• chopped zucchini
• sweet potato

Meal Plan

M- Salmon & Lobster for Mr. Hungry’s BDAY

T- Salmon Hummus Wrap for me & Mr. Hungry had a sun butter and jelly quesadilla before basketball + UCAN

W- Butternut Squash Pumpkin Soup

R- Shrimp Tacos (Shrimp + Mango Salsa from TJ’s + Coleslaw Mix + Avocado + Sirracha in a Sprouted Corn Tortilla)

F- Shrimp Taco Leftover

S- We both had leftovers from eating out with friends.  I had chipotle!

Question of the day:

What is one aspect of breakfast you want to work on?

What is your favorite breakfast meal?

Hands down my favorite meal is my single serving pumpkin pancake!